


Don't think we're the same

by Garchomp445



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Acceptance, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Situational Irony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 11:50:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4563510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garchomp445/pseuds/Garchomp445
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Severa has her first human kill, fresh from the future. She deals with the transition from killing bloodless revenants to those who bleed like those she's lost, explaining her general impassiveness towards killing bandits and Grimleal in the main storyline.</p><p>I was inspired by a fic called Fresh Blood about Lucina facing this same situation: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3872632</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't think we're the same

Severa had been trudging along this featureless plain for the past couple of hours, kicking aside any annoying looking tufts of grass, searching for any signs of civilization. Of course Naga had seen fit to put her in the most boring, least hospitable environ. Cynthia’s probably in some kind of palace, kicking her heels back and eating grapes. Her stomach growls at the mere thought of food, and she shouts

“Hey! I can’t get anything for you yet! Stop complaining.”

to shut it up, to no avail. Severa glances down to make sure that she’s still on what MIGHT be a dirt road, and takes in the parched, cracked ground in all of its glory. What she’s walking on is almost indistinguishable from the dirt surrounding her, so she sighs, possibly trying to extract some pity from the far-off birds or inconsiderate cacti. She doesn’t succeed, but does notice a few figures approaching far off in the distance. The mercenary almost speeds up to find out if this’ll turn out to be a source of food or water, but successfully curtails any potential excitement by choosing to scowl instead. The figures quickly come into range, and they are human… Just not necessarily ones she’d like to associate with. Their garb is clearly plegian, with bare skin, animal furs, and pointlessly gaudy armour for their two dark mages. She sighs again, almost more exasperatedly than before. Either these people are common bandits, and will try to kill her, or are Grimleal, in which case they’ll DEFINITELY try to kill her. She groans to herself as she walks closer and closer, then looks up when she hears one of the bandits shout to her

“Hey girl, give us all your money, and we might decide to let you live!”

She ignores the first remark, instead glaring down the largest one in the middle. She hears one of the dark mages stage whispering to him, apparently oblivious that stage whispers aren’t actual whispers,

“Boss, it looks like she’s in mercenary garb…”

“Shuddup! There’s one of her, and seven of us. It doesn’t even look like she’s armed!”

Severa continues marching on, but the first barbarian in front of her decides to raise his weapon. She draws her sword, luring a gaze from the leader and his dark mage, then just waits there. They draw around her for a moment, forming a rough semicircle, before she gets fed up and snips

“Where’s all the false bravado I was hearing just ten seconds ago? Get over here so I don’t have to move to kill you.”

Anyone willing to assault a random stranger without provocation was worse than a risen in Severa’s books, she steeled herself against any feelings towards having to kill another human, since these WEREN’T people. They’re just more enemies, Severa repeats in her head. The first one leaps at her, a wide, sloppy swing easy to dodge, and easier to riposte, her sword neatly slicing through his shoulder and into his heart, an instant disintegration for any risen. For this enemy, she has to apply almost as much force to draw her sword back out, retrieving it just in time to dodge a fireball from the female dark mage. The blood coating Severa’s sword causes the mercenary to pause for an instant, disgusted to see that precious fluid so swiftly wasted. Another barbarian charges, separate from the others, and she slices at his arms sideways, causing a spray of blood across the battlefield, and a horrible scream from the subject of her attack.

She flinches, but mercifully finishes him by lopping his head off. Before she can internalize the violence, she feels the ground shift slightly beneath her, and she leaps into the air before a flux can erupt beneath her. She uses her momentum to bounce over to the offending dark mage, stabbing him in the heart and twisting the blade before he can even move. The lead barbarian kneels down, gaping at his fallen soldiers, and especially distraught by Severa drawing her blade from his dark mage. The last two barbarians decide to use a tiny bit of tact, attacking simultaneously, but are each dispatched with a stab through their chests to interrupt the heavy axe strike. She hears a strange cry from the barbarian before her

“Y-you killed them!”

“A bit ironic, coming from a professional mugger.”

“I’ve killed people, but you are a killing machine.”

As if to punctuate his point, the final dark mage attempts to attack, but is waylaid by Severa’s sword piercing his entire body. She blushes at the accusation which she cannot say has no merit, but the colour leaves her face when she realizes that these monsters aren’t human. As long as they stand in the way of peace, and people just trying to walk down a road, they deserve every bit of death this machine can provide. She finishes with a flinch, but harshly saying

“Don’t even TRY to think we’re the same. You attacked an innocent traveller, I was defending myself.”

She stabs him through the throat, then finishes the job with a chop across his neck. She doesn’t bother to clean off or sheath her sword when she proceeds on her way, and sincerely hopes that Cynthia is ACTUALLY at some kind of palace, far away from this awful, bloody combat.


End file.
